This is excellent news!
Nationwide study to monitor flu strains on anvil
Kounteya Sinha, TNN | May 21, 2011, 04.11am IST
NEW DELHI: India, for the first time ever, will monitor seasonal influenza.
National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) will soon launch a countrywide study to see which influenza strains are causing seasonal flu that are usually characterized by running or blocked nose, fever, incessant sneezing and throat ache.
Around 30 hospitals have been identified for collecting influenza strains. Ten laboratories, under the integrated disease surveillance programme (ISDP), will test nasal and throat samples that have been collected from seasonal flu patients.
BJ Medical College (Ahmedabad), JIPMER (Pondicherry), NCDC (Delhi), SGPGI (Lucknow), IPM (Hyderabad), NIMHANS (Bangalore), Shimla Medical College and Hofkins Institute (Mumbai) are among the 10 laboratories that will conduct the test. These laboratories were set up during the avian influenza outbreak in India. However, the swine flu outbreak gave impetus to monitor seasonal influenza.
"Each laboratory will test human samples from three hospitals. Around five samples per hospital will be tested daily. Around 15 samples per hospital will be picked up every week," an official said.
He added, "monitoring influenza strains will help us be better prepared for an influenza pandemic since the strains keep mutating."
NCDC will compile critical data like the number of people is infected by seasonal flu, fatalities and the most prevalent influenza strains.
"The database will help us create India's indigenous seasonal flu vaccine. Indian does not know the real infection burden of seasonal flu or mortality figures," a health ministry official said. Initially, ISDP would fund the exercise, and then it would be the ministry's turn.
Globally, seasonal flu outbreaks claim 60,000 lives annually, but no data are available for India.
...
Nationwide study to monitor flu strains on anvil
Kounteya Sinha, TNN | May 21, 2011, 04.11am IST
NEW DELHI: India, for the first time ever, will monitor seasonal influenza.
National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) will soon launch a countrywide study to see which influenza strains are causing seasonal flu that are usually characterized by running or blocked nose, fever, incessant sneezing and throat ache.
Around 30 hospitals have been identified for collecting influenza strains. Ten laboratories, under the integrated disease surveillance programme (ISDP), will test nasal and throat samples that have been collected from seasonal flu patients.
BJ Medical College (Ahmedabad), JIPMER (Pondicherry), NCDC (Delhi), SGPGI (Lucknow), IPM (Hyderabad), NIMHANS (Bangalore), Shimla Medical College and Hofkins Institute (Mumbai) are among the 10 laboratories that will conduct the test. These laboratories were set up during the avian influenza outbreak in India. However, the swine flu outbreak gave impetus to monitor seasonal influenza.
"Each laboratory will test human samples from three hospitals. Around five samples per hospital will be tested daily. Around 15 samples per hospital will be picked up every week," an official said.
He added, "monitoring influenza strains will help us be better prepared for an influenza pandemic since the strains keep mutating."
NCDC will compile critical data like the number of people is infected by seasonal flu, fatalities and the most prevalent influenza strains.
"The database will help us create India's indigenous seasonal flu vaccine. Indian does not know the real infection burden of seasonal flu or mortality figures," a health ministry official said. Initially, ISDP would fund the exercise, and then it would be the ministry's turn.
Globally, seasonal flu outbreaks claim 60,000 lives annually, but no data are available for India.
...
Comment